Bainbridge grads launch studio, online sitcom series

HONEY TOAD STUDIO / CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Bhama Roget and Sean Mulroy as Spencer and Thomas in a scene from the online sitcom "Wrecked."

BAINBRIDGE ISLAND - Web-based television is an emerging force in the entertainment world. It's also a tough way to earn a living, as a group of young Bainbridge Island filmmakers know well.

The founders of Honey Toad Studio are finishing the first season of a free online sitcom called "Wrecked" this fall, while raising money for a second season. The cheerfully lewd but heartfelt comedy is the studio's only project to date, and the future of the fledgling enterprise depends on whether viewers will pay to keep the show alive.

The studio launched a campaign on the fundraising website Kickstarter.com to gather the money needed for a second season. The campaign ends Nov. 26, and has raised about $16,000 toward its $30,000 goal.

"Wrecked" creator and Bainbridge High School graduate Liz Ellis said independent movies and music have thrived with the support of cult audiences. Now the Internet allows indie television producers to reach equally passionate pockets of fans.

Ellis was drawn to the world of freely shared online content while studying at Hampshire College, in Amherst, Mass. She wrote "Wrecked" during her senior year and shared the script with classmates, including fellow Bainbridge High graduate and film student Nathaniel Buechler.

After graduating last spring, Buechler and Ellis moved back to the island with a small group of collaborators to start Honey Toad Studio. They shot the first season of "Wrecked" in locations around Seattle on a $15,000 budget, hiring professional actors for key roles and filming with digital SLR cameras. Careful camerawork and editing gave "Wrecked" a surprisingly polished feel, Buechler said.

"A lot of our friends would watch it because they knew we made it," said Buechler, who served as a camera operator and editor for the first season. "They'd come back and say, 'I didn't think it would look that good.'"

"Wrecked" tells the story of a struggling writer named Spencer, who moves to Seattle to sort out her life. The compact episodes (they run about 10 minutes) brim with Ellis' fast-paced dialogue. Spencer and her friend Thomas dodge among familiar Seattle environs, maintaining a quick-witted banter. Sex is their favorite topic.

If "Wrecked" were rated, it would probably be rated "R," for constant, enthusiastic profanity. Drugs, alcohol, cluttered apartments and grungy bars are all part of the landscape. The show is raunchy, Ellis said, but more important, it's real.

"It's honest," she said. "To me, it's an accurate portrayal of how people my age speak, and what they speak about."

That said, Ellis hasn't screened "Wrecked" for her grandmother. It's a show made by young adults, primarily for young adults, delivered through a medium they're comfortable with. Viewers can download or stream episodes of "Wrecked" through the studio's website, or at the video sharing sites YouTube and Vimeo. Under the Creative Commons license, fans can even copy, cut up and reuse the work for free, as long as they credit the original creator.

The open sharing model makes it impossible to know how many people view the show, Ellis said. She just hopes it seduces enough into supporting it.